50 Day Movie Challenge: Day 10

My 50 Day Movie Challenge!

Day 10! For those just tuning in, on other sites I’ve seen bloggers do 20, or 30 day challenges all about movies, so I decided to mash up a bunch of those questions and came up with 50 that I’m going to attempt to answer consecutively over the next month and a half (or so). If you’d like to try and do it too, feel free! I’ll post all the questions as I go along, and I hope you enjoy my answers!

Day 10: Who is your favorite director?

The Man, The Myth, The Legend: Joss Whedon

I think one of the things that makes Joss my favorite director is that he’s not only a director, but also a writer. I’ve listened to him speak in interviews and on panels and he puts so much heart into his work. Since he’s a writer and most of what he directs he’s also written, makes his vision come to the page much more clearly. He’s stated in interviews that when he writes, he’s also seeing it in his head, directing it as he’s writing it, which I think makes that final vision so much more cohesive.

“I have always thought of the entire process as one thing. Writing is my favorite part, but when I’m writing I’m shooting in my head. I try to write things that read as though they will be seen. That feel when you’re reading it that you’re looking at it. So for me, directing is an extension of that.”

A lot of people were “concerned” that he wouldn’t be able to succeed with Avengers, because he was so “inexperienced” as a director. (Aka, he’d only done 1 other studio film — his much beloved, Serenity — prior to signing on to Avengers.) But anyone who’d seen Buffy, Angel, or Firefly, or Doctor Horrible would’ve had faith in his capabilities. He directed some of the biggest and most well received episodes of every series he was a part of, and let’s face it, he clearly had the Nerd-Knowledge Needed, which was really the more important part to fans. His success was so huge I’m pretty sure it shut up even the loudest of Nay-Sayers.

I also like how he is held in such high esteem by most of the actors, writers, and crew who work with him. He just makes you believe in all he can do, and has so much passion for so many subjects. He cares about the world and I think it shows in every piece he works on.

Some more Awesome Quotes by Joss Whedon…

“There’s a time and place for everything and I believe it’s called fanfiction.”

“Equality is not a concept. It’s not something we should be striving for. It’s a necessity. Equality is like gravity. We need it to stand on this earth as men and women, and the misogyny that is in every culture is not a true part of the human condition. It is life out of balance, and that imbalance is sucking something out of the soul of every man and woman who’s confronted with it. We need equality. Kinda now.”

“People love a happy ending. So every episode I will explain once again that I don’t like people. And then Mal will shoot someone. Someone we like. And their puppy.”

“I write to give myself strength. I write to be the characters that I am not. I write to explore all the things that I’m afraid of.”